Friday, September 28, 2007

plagiarism #42

When I was in high school, I plagiarized a paper for Driver’s Ed. I feel most guilty for the way it must have made my teacher feel. Now that I’ve been a teacher, I know how it hurts when your student tries to trick you.

“It was a long time ago,” Erik said.

“It was,” I said.

“The person who did that isn’t you,” he said.

“I would never plagiarize now,” I said.

“You’re a different person,” he said.

“Show me the grave of the person I used to be, and I’ll bury my guilt there.”

I have a problem forgiving myself. The pain accumulates, and my memory is full of events like this.